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For Gatineau voters, this fall has been the election campaign that couldn’t pick an issue.
Taxes? Culture? Floods? Paving sidestreets? Condo towers? Economic growth? Pick any. They have all floated in and out of debates and headlines, even the $79-million decision to build a new hockey arena, long after that decision was supposedly in the bag.
But none of them became a big, standout issue that dominated debates or public discussion.
In the absence of a big issue, incumbent Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin has been rolling along smoothly in a Jim Watson-style campaign, a road without a lot of bumps.
And without an obvious fiasco left over from the past four-year term, his competition doesn’t have any apparent weak point to exploit.
In fact, the only real controversy occurred in a council race when reports surfaced late in the campaign of alleged “inappropriate behaviour” by Plateau ward candidate Patrick Doyon from unnamed women who worked with him over the past 15 years.
Doyon strenuously denied the claims, but withdrew from the race, leading to the acclamation victory of Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, a 29-year-old Carleton doctoral student running on Pedneaud-Jobin’s Action Gatineau ticket.
This election’s mayoral field is unusually large, with the incumbent, two veteran councillors who have been his frequent critics, and two newcomers all vying for the post.
The number of opponents also seemed to have the effect of splitting any anti-Pedneaud-Jobin vote that was out there.
Denis Tassé, one of the veterans on Gatineau council and the polling frontrunner among the four challengers, had been expected to be a major critic of incumbent Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin.
He has in fact accused the mayor of not being transparent. But mainly he has focused on a topic that took many by surprise: paving sidestreets. He wants to borrow $100 million to pave 108 kilometres of sidestreets.
That’s the kind of local issue that voters want to talk about, he explained.
During a debate sponsored by the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce, Gatineau councillor and mayoral candidate Sylvie Goneau memorably attacked what is seen as Tassé’s strong point — his grasp of city finances: “It takes someone who can handle a real financial framework and who understands figures. Maybe you could ask Maxime Tremblay to come and explain it instead of you,” Goneau said as he had trouble explaining a point. (Tremblay is a former councillor who has been assisting the Tassé campaign.)
Whether justified or not the accusation stuck in people’s minds, something like Donald Trump’s labels of “Lyin’ Ted” and “Crooked Hillary.”
Goneau, as the other experienced councillor challenging Pedneaud-Jobin, has had sweeping platform statements — redeveloping downtown, and especially reducing city hall staff by attrition to save money. But in the mid-campaign polling she was well back in third place.
For voters opposed to the current mayor the choice is split among four candidates, and some behind-the-scenes scrambling resulted.
At about the mid-point of the campaign, candidate Clément Bélanger, who was polling in the four- to five-per-cent range, said his organization was approached by people associated with higher-polling campaigns to float the idea of Bélanger rallying to their cause.
“The discussion was that we were far behind and it made no sense to split the vote,” Bélanger said.
Bélanger’s team was told that the higher polling team would adopt some of Bélanger’s favourite election planks.
The offer was rejected and Bélanger said he heard no more.
Rémi Bergeron, the other outsider candidate, was also quoted in media reports of having rejected overtures from unnamed candidates.
If there is a surprise in the offing, it will be at the council level.
Pedneaud-Jobin and his supporters have formed the Action Gatineau party, with candidates in every ward, in hopes of getting a majority on council to smooth the way for Pedneaud-Jobin’s vision.
The polls are open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Candidates
Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin
Sitting mayor, Leader of Action Gatineau, fledgling municipal party
Campaign has been steady as it goes strategy, build on previous work
* Action Gatineau majority on council needed to make sure time isn’t wasted on endless debate, but promises won’t be anti-democratic
* Promises to continue on the light rail for Gatineau and connection to Ottawa
* Improve cycling paths, parks, green spaces
* Strong infrastructure investment.
Denis Tassé
Sitting councillor, entrepreneur
Heavy emphasis on nuts and bolts issues
* Regularly complained the mayor has not acted with “transparency” during his time on council.
* Main plank is $100 million loan to pave 108 kilometres of side streets.
Sylvie Goneau
Sitting councillor
* Seeking sixth bridge to Ottawa, via Kettle Island
* Infrastructure improvements a key issue (she lost her home in the spring flooding)
Cédric Bélanger
Senior civil servant
* Campaign keyed on various tourism industry ideas to make Gatineau ‘the gateway to Quebec.’
* Has now conceded this campaign is a dry run to prepare for a run in the next municipal elections
Rémi Bergeron
Municipal administrator
* Campaign theme is “gros bon sens” or common sense.
* Pledged to bring city administration and services “back to basics”
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
Taxes? Culture? Floods? Paving sidestreets? Condo towers? Economic growth? Pick any. They have all floated in and out of debates and headlines, even the $79-million decision to build a new hockey arena, long after that decision was supposedly in the bag.
But none of them became a big, standout issue that dominated debates or public discussion.
In the absence of a big issue, incumbent Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin has been rolling along smoothly in a Jim Watson-style campaign, a road without a lot of bumps.
And without an obvious fiasco left over from the past four-year term, his competition doesn’t have any apparent weak point to exploit.
In fact, the only real controversy occurred in a council race when reports surfaced late in the campaign of alleged “inappropriate behaviour” by Plateau ward candidate Patrick Doyon from unnamed women who worked with him over the past 15 years.
Doyon strenuously denied the claims, but withdrew from the race, leading to the acclamation victory of Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, a 29-year-old Carleton doctoral student running on Pedneaud-Jobin’s Action Gatineau ticket.
This election’s mayoral field is unusually large, with the incumbent, two veteran councillors who have been his frequent critics, and two newcomers all vying for the post.
The number of opponents also seemed to have the effect of splitting any anti-Pedneaud-Jobin vote that was out there.
Denis Tassé, one of the veterans on Gatineau council and the polling frontrunner among the four challengers, had been expected to be a major critic of incumbent Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin.
He has in fact accused the mayor of not being transparent. But mainly he has focused on a topic that took many by surprise: paving sidestreets. He wants to borrow $100 million to pave 108 kilometres of sidestreets.
That’s the kind of local issue that voters want to talk about, he explained.
During a debate sponsored by the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce, Gatineau councillor and mayoral candidate Sylvie Goneau memorably attacked what is seen as Tassé’s strong point — his grasp of city finances: “It takes someone who can handle a real financial framework and who understands figures. Maybe you could ask Maxime Tremblay to come and explain it instead of you,” Goneau said as he had trouble explaining a point. (Tremblay is a former councillor who has been assisting the Tassé campaign.)
Whether justified or not the accusation stuck in people’s minds, something like Donald Trump’s labels of “Lyin’ Ted” and “Crooked Hillary.”
Goneau, as the other experienced councillor challenging Pedneaud-Jobin, has had sweeping platform statements — redeveloping downtown, and especially reducing city hall staff by attrition to save money. But in the mid-campaign polling she was well back in third place.
For voters opposed to the current mayor the choice is split among four candidates, and some behind-the-scenes scrambling resulted.
At about the mid-point of the campaign, candidate Clément Bélanger, who was polling in the four- to five-per-cent range, said his organization was approached by people associated with higher-polling campaigns to float the idea of Bélanger rallying to their cause.
“The discussion was that we were far behind and it made no sense to split the vote,” Bélanger said.
Bélanger’s team was told that the higher polling team would adopt some of Bélanger’s favourite election planks.
The offer was rejected and Bélanger said he heard no more.
Rémi Bergeron, the other outsider candidate, was also quoted in media reports of having rejected overtures from unnamed candidates.
If there is a surprise in the offing, it will be at the council level.
Pedneaud-Jobin and his supporters have formed the Action Gatineau party, with candidates in every ward, in hopes of getting a majority on council to smooth the way for Pedneaud-Jobin’s vision.
The polls are open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Candidates
Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin
Sitting mayor, Leader of Action Gatineau, fledgling municipal party
Campaign has been steady as it goes strategy, build on previous work
* Action Gatineau majority on council needed to make sure time isn’t wasted on endless debate, but promises won’t be anti-democratic
* Promises to continue on the light rail for Gatineau and connection to Ottawa
* Improve cycling paths, parks, green spaces
* Strong infrastructure investment.
Denis Tassé
Sitting councillor, entrepreneur
Heavy emphasis on nuts and bolts issues
* Regularly complained the mayor has not acted with “transparency” during his time on council.
* Main plank is $100 million loan to pave 108 kilometres of side streets.
Sylvie Goneau
Sitting councillor
* Seeking sixth bridge to Ottawa, via Kettle Island
* Infrastructure improvements a key issue (she lost her home in the spring flooding)
Cédric Bélanger
Senior civil servant
* Campaign keyed on various tourism industry ideas to make Gatineau ‘the gateway to Quebec.’
* Has now conceded this campaign is a dry run to prepare for a run in the next municipal elections
Rémi Bergeron
Municipal administrator
* Campaign theme is “gros bon sens” or common sense.
* Pledged to bring city administration and services “back to basics”
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
